CBEST Mathematics Online Center
This CBEST Mathematics Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
CBEST Mathematics Practice Center
Sit a full two-hour section with no calculator, then read the explanation under every question you missed. Both forms carry the word problems, table and graph items, and sufficiency questions that make up the real section.
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CBEST Mathematics at a glance
Fifty questions in two hours is nearly two and a half minutes per question, which is a comfortable pace. What makes the section hard is the ban on calculators and the wording. Most items are word problems set in schools, shopping, travel, or budgets, and a good number are built on a table, a graph, or a chart. The arithmetic itself rarely goes past what a strong middle school student can do by hand.
| Section | Mathematics, one of the three CBEST sections with Reading and Writing |
|---|---|
| Who takes it | California candidates for teaching and service credentials, plus candidates in a few other states that accept CBEST. |
| Number of questions | 50 multiple-choice questions |
| Answer options | Five per question, A through E. You choose the one best answer. |
| Time limit | 2 hours for the mathematics section |
| Calculator | Not allowed. The vendor states that use of calculators is prohibited on this examination. |
| Reference material | None. No formula sheet is provided. |
| Format | Computer-based, at a test center or online-proctored. Word problems and computation items, some built on a table, graph, or chart. You may work the questions in any order. |
| Content areas | Estimation, measurement, and statistical principles; computation and problem solving; numerical and graphic relationships. |
| Passing score | A scaled score of at least 41 on the section, on a scale of 20 to 80. A section score as low as 37 is acceptable only if the total across all three sections reaches 123, and all three sections must be passed. |
| Current status | The test is live and offered at test centers and online. CBEST is no longer required for most teaching credentials for candidates who hold a bachelor’s degree, so it is now one of several ways to meet the basic skills requirement. |
The Commission publishes approximate percentages for the three areas: 30 percent estimation, measurement, and statistical principles; 35 percent computation and problem solving; 35 percent numerical and graphic relationships. Those are approximate weights, not fixed question counts. The vendor does not publish an exact number of questions per area, and it does not say whether any of the 50 questions are unscored field-test items.
The three content areas, in plain language
California groups the section into three areas. Here is what each one asks you to do.
Area 1: Estimation, measurement, and statistical principles (about 30 percent)
Can you size a quantity, measure it, and read what a set of data says?
- Understand and use standard units of length, temperature, weight, and capacity in the U.S. Measurement system
- Measure length and perimeter
- Estimate how long a task will take, for the sake of planning work
- Estimate the result of an arithmetic operation before computing it
- Perform operations with basic statistical data: averages, ratios, proportions, and percentile scores
- Understand basic principles of probability and predict likely outcomes
- Interpret a standardized test score to compare one person’s performance with a group’s
Area 2: Computation and problem solving (about 35 percent)
Can you carry out the arithmetic by hand and decide what a problem is asking for?
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages
- Add and subtract with positive and negative numbers
- Solve practical mathematics problems that call for arithmetic
- Solve a simple algebraic equation with one unknown
- Determine whether a problem gives enough information to be solved
- Recognize that a problem can be solved by more than one method
Area 3: Numerical and graphic relationships (about 35 percent)
Can you see how numbers relate to each other and pull the right value out of a display?
- Recognize a pattern in numerical data, including a change expressed as a percentage
- Recognize the position of numbers in relation to one another
- Use the symbols for less than, greater than, and equal to
- Identify expressions that are mathematically equivalent
- Apply the rules for rounding
- Apply logical connectives and quantifiers, such as and, or, if-then, all, and some
- Read data out of a table or graph and use it to solve a problem
A study routine for a two-hour section with no calculator
Two hours for fifty questions leaves room to think. Build the plan around hand computation and careful reading of the question, not around speed drills.
Complete lesson map
Thirty-nine lessons on the arithmetic, algebra, and data skills this section measures. Each one opens in a new tab so you can keep this page open while you work.
Estimation, rounding, and comparing numbers
Measurement, length, and perimeter
Averages, ratios, probability, and test scores
Computation with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals
Percent in practical problems
Word problems and one-unknown equations
Reading tables, graphs, and numerical relationships
Before test day
Three habits carry this section. Estimate before you compute, because the five choices are often far enough apart that a rough answer settles the question. Write the arithmetic down rather than doing it in your head, since a misplaced decimal point costs the same as not knowing the topic. And read the last line of every word problem twice, because the number the question wants is frequently not the number you just found.
A USEFUL NEXT STEP
CBEST Mathematics: study questions
What can I study in this CBEST Mathematics Online Center?
This CBEST Mathematics Online Center includes practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Topics on the page include Area 1: Estimation, measurement, and statistical principles (about 30 percent), Area 2: Computation and problem solving (about 35 percent), Area 3: Numerical and graphic relationships (about 35 percent).
How should I use the CBEST Mathematics resources?
Choose a topic or practice activity from this Online Center. Review the linked explanation, try the practice, and use the result to decide what to study next. Check each resource’s directions for its format and access requirements.
Resources from Effortless Math · Editorial standards